Don't panic: Hi-tech security for your home

Terrified of violent robbery, wealthy homeowners are installing increasingly
hi-tech security features. But is there any need to spend a fortune on
state-of-the-art gadgetry to make your house safe?

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David Gold spent a quarter of a million pounds installing a suite of panic rooms in his Surrey mansion

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Radlett, Hertfordshire
Halcyon Hall is a stunning six-bedroom mansion in more than an acre of landscaped gardens with every hi-tech security gadget you would ever need. The door to the master bathroom has three steel bars that can turn the area into a safe room. There is also a hi-tech camera system in the house with light and heat sensors. This means you can keep an eye on the property from your iPad or computer when you are travelling at home or abroad. This family home is on the market for £15 million through Savills (020 7499 8644; www.savills.com)

We all know Corporal Jones’s catch phrase from Dad’s Army, shouted at moments of high anxiety. But when businessman and West Ham United chairman David Gold learnt he was on the hit list of armed robbers, catch phrases weren’t quite enough. He didn’t panic, but he did spend a quarter of a million pounds on a suite of secure rooms at his mansion in Surrey. Better safe than sorry.

Should raiders now burst in, he and fiancée Lesley Manning will be able to lock themselves behind triple-bolted steel doors. Inside they will have a direct line to the police, and will be able to monitor the intruders’ movements with the help of CCTV cameras.

Gold was tipped off by his friend and fellow tycoon John Caudwell, founder of mobile phone firm Phones4U. Caudwell had been attacked in his 16th-century mansion by intruders. They beat him up, terrorised his fiancée, and escaped with an estimated £1.2 million in cash and jewels. He was quick to warn his friend that he might be next.

“When I spoke to John he told me I had to take it seriously, because this gang was going to kill someone,” said Gold. “From the information the police gave me, it was a question of when, not if, the gang would try something.”

He found himself facing not just the outside possibility of being burgled, as most of us do, but the strong probability. Top-of-the-range security was a must-have.

While many people feel they don’t have enough money to merit an attack or to pay for a panic room, state-of-the-art security features are becoming obligatory among Britain’s super-rich.

Even these high-earners, however, don’t have to spend £250,000.

“For £100,000, you can build yourself a safe room that will keep attackers at bay for between five and 10 minutes,” says Heyrick Bond Gunning, of high-end security specialists Salamanca.

“Though it might not sound like long, that should be enough time for the police to get there, provided you’re not in the middle of the countryside.”

It also helps if you have communications equipment that can penetrate the room’s solid walls. Often, a mobile phone signal can’t get through, which is where a computer or Skype phone comes in handy. A CCTV monitoring system enables you to keep an eye on what the attackers are up to. If you’re going to be in there for the long haul, then food, water and a lavatory are also essential.

The driving force behind much of this rampart-erecting is the increasing number of foreign buyers coming to Britain.

“Security was a secondary consideration 10 years ago, but now it’s very much a primary concern,” says Charles Smith of estate agents Sotheby’s International Realty. “Ninety-five per cent of our clients wanting to buy in London are from overseas, spanning 19 different nationalities. They want a place that is secure while they are here, and that they can lock up and leave when they aren’t.”

It is Eastern Europeans, it seems, who are the most acutely safety-conscious.

“The Russians have security built into their mindset,” says Guy Peacock of search agents Prime Purchase. “They fear for their safety. Bullet-proof glass is essential for the lower-floor windows, although most of them will not consider a lower-ground or ground-floor property.

“Kidnap is very common in some of the emerging economies. While buyers know London is much safer, it takes them a while to feel comfortable in the city. Personal security measures are high on their agenda.”

This is why homes at the top end of the market double as fortresses. A 10-bedroom mansion at Hill Street in Mayfair, recently on the market at £48 million with Knight Frank, came complete with a bullet-proof garage with room for four large limousines. A row of residences on Cornwall Terrace, north-west London, with views over Regent’s Park, has garages that are guaranteed to be not only bullet-proof but ram-proof, too (£20-£40 million with Knight Frank, 020 7861 5487).

Nor is it just in the centre of town that this sort of thing is available. A new development called Domus is being built in Totteridge, north London. The front gates operate only by car number-plate recognition, and front doors open by fingerprint recognition. The bathrooms double as panic rooms in the event of an emergency (prices £1.73-£3 million through Savills, 020 8447 4400).

Not only that, but there’s a dedicated ex-SAS security team patrolling the Totteridge and Whetstone area in Land Rovers and on motorbikes. They guarantee to be with you in 90 seconds should you press the panic button, or should someone enter the wrong combination on your safe.

Not all the latest security measures involve commandos, however. In a less dramatic development, some wealthy home owners are swapping the traditional front-door key for something more akin to a hotel key card.

“The idea is that you can programme each key so only certain people can open certain doors,” says Alex Michelin of upmarket developers Finchatton. “If you lose a key, or have it stolen, you can immediately deactivate it. Similarly, if a member of staff leaves, you can dis-allocate their card.

“This means you can protect against a clever cleaner or driver carrying out an inside job. It also means you only carry one small key rather than a great bunch like a jailer.”

Another development allows you to see what your domestic security cameras are recording via your laptop. Even if you are lying on the beach in Brazil, you can alert the authorities to something happening at your home in High Wycombe.

“We had a client who set up a fingerprint-scanning system whereby only he and his wife could get into their wine cellar,” says Joe Burns, whose firm Oliver Burns is developing Walpole Mayfair, a group of five apartments opposite the Ritz, with Renoirs on the wall.

“Unfortunately, the couple went on holiday, upon which the air-conditioning system broke down. The temperature soared, and no one could get into the cellar to rescue the wine.

“These kinds of things are more practical in a commercial rather than domestic setting.”

After a long day at work, or popping out for a pint of milk, you don’t always want to present your eye to a retina-reader. And however space-age your system, insurance companies will still require you to have an old-fashioned lock on your front door.

Indeed, in many cases, security experts will advise their clients that rather than installing an expensive hi-tech system, they can get away with just the basics. This involves installing an entry-phone door system (with a monitor so you can see who’s pressed the bell), and putting your post box on railings, rather than the front door. This ensures that thieves can’t reach through the letterbox or “fish” for keys on the hall table. Oh, and make sure that everyone else in the house is as careful about security as you.

“You can spend a fortune on security kit, but if you don’t brief your staff properly, or don’t do a proper check on the credentials of the nanny, you might as well not bother,” says Heyrick Bond Gunning.

“We carry out what we call penetration tests to try out our clients’ security systems, and in almost every case, I’m afraid, it’s the humans who prove to be the weakest link.”